|
|
Jean-Étienne Liotard
Title: Trompe l’Oeil, 1771
Artist: Jean-Étienne Liotard (Swiss 1702-1789)
Medium: Oil on Silk transferred to Canvas
Dimensions: 23.3 x 32.3 cm (9 3/8 x 12 ¾ in.)
Permanent Collection: The Frick Collection,
Bequeathed by Lore Heinemann in memory of her husband, Dr. Rudolph J. Heinemann, 1997
Photographer: Michael Bodycomb
Image Courtesy: The Frick Collection, New York
Swiss Master
The Frick Collection, New York
through September 17, 2006
Painter, pastelist and miniaturist all describe Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard. The artist had an international following during his lifetime but these days his work is barely known outside of his homeland.
The Frick's exhibition received its inspiration from Lore Heinemann’s 1997 bequest of Trompe l’Oeil, which will be on display among
other Liotard works.
Chief Curator Colin B. Bailey said, “The Frick Collection is one of the very few museums outside Geneva to
own a masterpiece in oil by Liotard and it is his Trompe l’Oeil of 1771, bequeathed by Lore Heinemann in 1997,
that inspired the current exhibition. Liotard is one of the most original —and eccentric—of all eighteenth-century
artists, whose fame during his lifetime spread from the courts of Europe as far afield as Constantinople, and even to
the colonies in Boston, Massachusetts. Thanks, above all, to the extraordinary generosity of the Musées d’art et
d’histoire in Geneva—which boasts the foremost holdings of works by Liotard in the world—a New York audience
will have the opportunity to discover this Swiss master in all the media in which he excelled: from paintings in oil
and pastel, to drawings in three crayon, engravings, and miniatures.”
Liotard described Trompe L'Oeil as “deceptio visus” (visual deception) when it was exhibited in London in 1773. The work encompasses
illusionist plaster reliefs suspended from screws and drawings adhered with sealing wax to a simulated pine panel. It is an exquisite piece
that showcases Liotard's mimetic talents. Trompe L'Oeil translates to 'Trick the Eye'. It's an optical
illusion where objects appear to be three-dimensional when they are in fact two-dimensional.
Liotard began his trompe l'oeil images late in his career but his essence for precise imitation was reflected within his other mediums. Liotard
was known as the "painter of truth".
|
Title: Liotard Laughing (Liotard Riant), c. 1770
Artist: Jean-Étienne Liotard (Swiss 1702-1789)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 84 x 74 (33 1/16 x 29 1/8)
Permanent Collection: Musées d’Art et d’Histoire, Département des Beaux-Arts
Photo: Bettina Jacot-Descombes
Image Courtesy: The Frick Collection, New York
|
He was from a French Huguenot family who escaped to Geneva after the Edict of Nantes was renounced and rights granted to Protestants in France were revoked.
Liotard
trained with Daniel Gardell, a miniaturist, before moving to Paris where he became an apprentice to Jean-Baptiste Massé.
|
|
He journeyed to Rome and while there among those who sat for a Liotard portrait were Pope Clement XII and the family of
James Stuart, pretender to the English throne. The 1738
Liotard miniature of Stuart's sons Prince Henry Benedict Stuart and Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) will be in the exhibit.
|
Title: Turkish Woman with a Tambourine, 1738-43
Artist: Jean-Étienne Liotard (Swiss 1702-1789)
Medium: Pastel, Gouache, and Red Chalk on Off-White Laid Paper,
Adhered to a Wooden Strainer
Dimensions: 61.6 x 47 cm (24 1/4 x 18 1/2 in.)
Private Collection
Image Courtesy: The Frick Collection, New York
|
While in Rome he met the Earl of Sandwich and William Ponsonby (later the Earl of Bessborough) who invited him to join them on a trip to the Greek Islands and later
to Constantinople. This was a pivotal time for the Swiss artist. Liotard remained in the latter city for four years
where he created multiple works of individuals in lavish dress and interiors that
would serve as a model for his future works. He became known as the "Turkish Painter" after adopting that country's traditional clothing for his own daily attire.
Among his royal patrons was The Empress Marie-Thérèse of Austria who commissioned him to produce a group portrait of her children. She was the godmother to one of
his daughters who was named after her.
Jean-Étienne Liotard: Swiss Master
Frick Collection, New York:
through September 17, 2006
|
|
